I´m finally back with some thoughts on collective identity. Since I am interested in the types of identities that tie together a group/network of bloggers, I thought it might be a nice idea to start off with some basics on the concept of identity in theory.

I chose to quickly sum up an article by David Snow
that provides a nice overview of the conceptualization of identity, especially collective identity, in different scholarly works.

He notes that, at the base of every interaction amongst individuals or groups lies the reciprocal attribution and avowal of identities. Identity is thus a key factor in making social interaction possible.

Conceptualizations of identity differentiate three identity types: personal, social and collective.

Social identities are meanings attributed to others in order to place them in social space, it is similar to the idea of social roles, such as ‘teacher’ or ‘mother’.

Personal identities are the meanings attributed to oneself.

Collective identities are a bit trickier. They overlap with social and personal identity. Snow notes that there is so far no consensual definition of collective identity (CI). However, an essence seems to be a shared sense of “We-ness”- including a sense of shared attributes and experiences and the idea of a contrast or relation to a set of ‘others’ Embedded in the sense of We-ness is the possibility of collective action (for a common cause).

Another common theme that runs through literature is the insistence that CI is a process rather than a fixed property. CI is transient and subject to modification and transformation.

CI can technically emerge among any social group, ranging from small cliques like fanclubs to broad categories such as gender, ethnicity or religion. The majority of research has focused on the last type of groups. Another characteristic is that CI is often studied in the context of social movements.

In the predominant view, CI is a construct, it is invented, not biologically or culturally determined.

There are several points of interest for the study of CI, for example the area of Identity Work, which focuses on how CI is created, expressed, sustained and modified. At the core of this is the study of generation and maintenance of symbolic resources that distinguish the group internally and externally.

Other fields of study are Identity correspondence conflicts, or the types or layers of CI.